Conservative college president says Christians were drawn to Trump’s religious freedom message

The president of conservative Hillsdale College said in an interview that aired Wednesday on “Rising” that President Trump has been politically successful with Christians because he has promised to take on threats to religious freedom.

“It would be a shame if anybody for any sectarian reason passed a law that made somebody do something they didn’t agree with,” Larry Arnn told Hill.TV’s Julia Manchester earlier this month. 

“The reverse is the danger now. What if they passed laws saying you can’t practice your faith the way you want to, and you get that now,” he continued. “So a lot of thinking, Christian people are concerned about that, especially if they have an affection for the Constitution, and Trump said he’d fight all that, and he has been.” 

Hillsdale College describes itself as a “nonsectarian Christian institution” and touts “civil and religious liberty” in its mission statement.

Trump has forged a strong relationship with the evangelical community, which supported him strongly in the 2016 presidential election. 

Arnn said that he and other conservatives were also attracted to Trump due to his views on big government. 

“My first attraction to Trump was that Trump has said a lot of really great things about the Constitution of the United States for more than 30 years,” Arnn said. 

“I thought we need a limited government, and we don’t even make most of our laws into Congress anymore,” he continued, “and so I don’t like that, I think it’s dangerous and bad, and Trump is against that,” he continued. “So that first drew me to him.” 

— Julia Manchester


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